Oddworld: Soulstorm (PlayStation 5)
User Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): April 6, 2021
- Publisher: Oddworld Inhabitants, Microïds
- Developer: Oddworld Inhabitants, Just Add Water, Sabotage Studio, Frima Studio, Fat Kraken Studios
- Genres: Platformer, Puzzle, Shooter
- Also For: Computer, PlayStation 4
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Review Approach:
This review is written from the perspective of someone who has not played any of the previous Oddworld games, and a newcomer to this puzzle, platformer genre. Especially since the game launched free on psplus, a lot of people will be playing this franchise for the first time.
While Oddworld: Soulstorm is a re-imagining of Abe's Exoddus and a sequel to Oddworld: New 'N' Tasty. can the developer Oddworld Inhabitants make a action/puzzle platformer accessible to newcomers of the franchise?
When I first booted up Soulstorm, I was scared that all the exposition would not make any sense as I have not played any of the previous Oddworld games. Luckily, while I was confused on what was happening, Abe, the protagonist, seemed just as clueless. The Mudokons are a race that "work" for a company called Rupture Farms but they are directly called slaves. An injured Mudokon hands Abe a package with a map and amulet saying to seek the Keeper. Abe sets out to find the Keeper and take control of a Rupture Farms train to lead the freed Mudokons to safety.
I personally did not find the story to be totally engrossing but I did find myself very immersed in the detailed world and characters. The goal of the game is to save as many enslaved Mudokons as possible as you progress the levels and I found myself truly feeling bad if I missed or got a Mudokon killed. The Mudokons that follow you make small comments that give them personality. The world was a mix of being very weird, wacky, and deep.
A major game mechanic is "praying" which allows you to take control of enemies. Every Slig (enemy) has a gun of some sort such as an assault rifle, a shotgun, or even a missile launcher and while controlling an slig, you can freely shoot about without care for ammunition. While "praying" has a limited range, once you take control of someone, you can actually move around freely with no limits except for the lack of jumping. This can lead to many various types of gameplay scenarios because of the different types of enemies. Sometimes the mechanic is simply used to take out other enemies in an area, other times to flip a switch not normally accessible. A couple of times, the game just turns into a bullet hell where you take control of a flying enemy and shoot around as if the game wasn't even a platformer. The game does limit when and where you can "pray" with visible machines that shock you if you "pray" in its vicinity.
This is where Soulstorm was very confusing to me. Every level had a prominent gameplay style with some being more stealth focused, platforming based, action-focused, or puzzle focused. Your items do not carry over from level to level so you can't just blast your way through a stealth-focused level like you might have in the previous. This does keep the game from being repetitive but there were times where I grew more tired of a puzzle-focused level when each level averages to be an hour long.
A great strength Oddworld Inhabitants managed to pull off is that Soulstorm never gets boring or repetitive. In each level, you can truly not expect what the game throws at you and the game gives you more items that add variety to the gameplay. Getting tired of throwing balls at enemies and sneaking around? There is a level where you are forced to only use a flashlight to fend off creatures. Want something more action-based? The 15th level has you fending off rounds of enemies as you climb a tower.
And finally, there is the enslaved Mudokons that you must guide to freedom. The reason why I mentioned this last out of all the game mechanics when it is the point of the whole game is that it was the most frustrating. Throughout each level, there are Mudokons that must be escorted to a bird portal. There are basic commands to tell them to follow or stay in place. Sometimes you need to control individuals to stand on a pressure plate. While it seems very simple to do, often I found myself so frustrated that I didn't even care if one of the following Mudokons died and there are many ways to kill them unintentionally. If a door closes and a Mudokon is in its way, it dies. If you are jumping around tripmines, the mudokons aren't smart enough to jump over it as well and dies. There are times where you think you were smart in hiding a group of Mudokons while you clear out enemies in your way but sometimes the enemies can appear near where you put them and kill them without you knowing. However, this seems all very intentional by the creators of the game. Over time you come to understand how to guide the Mudokons by hiding in lockers and clouds of smoke without getting them killed. It is very satisfying when you see all the Mudokons jump into the bird portal to freedom and all your hard work pays off. There are times where you spend hours redoing a specific part of a level because you want to save as many Mudokons as you can even though it is technically optional.
While checkpoints can be very helpful when needing to redo a part of a level multiple times, it can be very tiring to recollect items in lockers or trash cans every single time you die which can be a lot. The reason it is set up this way is so you always have enough items to progress but it can still be a pain. There was a time where I needed to loot 8 lockers, buy multiple items from a shop, and craft items every single time I died. Another grievance I had with checkpoints is I had all my Mudokons die right as I reached a checkpoint which meant I couldn't go back without restarting the entire level but that was one time.
Interactable can also be very hit or miss. There is a level where you need to backtrack in order to get enough Moolah (the currency) which can be found in lockers and trashcans. The problem I faced in this scenario is that you had no items to defend yourself and you needed to look through as many lockers as possible before the Slig turns around. This would be fine if interactable didn't not doing anything half the time when you press the button. On top of that, Abe sometimes doesn't open the locker the game is even highlighting. In calm scenarios where you are just looting, this is manageable, but in stressful ones, it just adds to the frustration.
There are some other annoyances. Movement can sometimes feel very clunky and cause you to get killed when Abe doesn't do what you want him to do. There are sections in levels that require you to control a Slig but it may seem like you can't because there are machines that shock you if you try except for a small opening in a corner that isn't the most obvious. There were some game breaking bugs where you would get stuck and you would have to restart the game but I ran into it only a couple of times.
I really enjoyed the gameplay of Soulstorm and found myself wanting to replay levels in order to save more Mudokons. There are multiple endings in the game depending on how many you free and I got a bad ending on my first try but I do plan on going back and unlocking the other endings which says a lot for the replayability. However, there are a lot of small issues that pile up to make the game more frustrating than the developers may have intended it to be. Regardless, I found myself pleasantly surprised of how immersed I was and did not feel like being a newcomer to the franchise held me back at enjoying the game.
I personally did not find the story to be totally engrossing but I did find myself very immersed in the detailed world and characters. The goal of the game is to save as many enslaved Mudokons as possible as you progress the levels and I found myself truly feeling bad if I missed or got a Mudokon killed. The Mudokons that follow you make small comments that give them personality. The world was a mix of being very weird, wacky, and deep.
The Gameplay
The moveset in Soulstorm is actually pretty standard and simple with a couple of gimmicks. Abe can sneak and roll which the game makes you do quite often. There is an item wheel that holds the various throwables you can obtain throughout levels with some extras such as a flashlight and a flamethrower.A major game mechanic is "praying" which allows you to take control of enemies. Every Slig (enemy) has a gun of some sort such as an assault rifle, a shotgun, or even a missile launcher and while controlling an slig, you can freely shoot about without care for ammunition. While "praying" has a limited range, once you take control of someone, you can actually move around freely with no limits except for the lack of jumping. This can lead to many various types of gameplay scenarios because of the different types of enemies. Sometimes the mechanic is simply used to take out other enemies in an area, other times to flip a switch not normally accessible. A couple of times, the game just turns into a bullet hell where you take control of a flying enemy and shoot around as if the game wasn't even a platformer. The game does limit when and where you can "pray" with visible machines that shock you if you "pray" in its vicinity.
This is where Soulstorm was very confusing to me. Every level had a prominent gameplay style with some being more stealth focused, platforming based, action-focused, or puzzle focused. Your items do not carry over from level to level so you can't just blast your way through a stealth-focused level like you might have in the previous. This does keep the game from being repetitive but there were times where I grew more tired of a puzzle-focused level when each level averages to be an hour long.
A great strength Oddworld Inhabitants managed to pull off is that Soulstorm never gets boring or repetitive. In each level, you can truly not expect what the game throws at you and the game gives you more items that add variety to the gameplay. Getting tired of throwing balls at enemies and sneaking around? There is a level where you are forced to only use a flashlight to fend off creatures. Want something more action-based? The 15th level has you fending off rounds of enemies as you climb a tower.
And finally, there is the enslaved Mudokons that you must guide to freedom. The reason why I mentioned this last out of all the game mechanics when it is the point of the whole game is that it was the most frustrating. Throughout each level, there are Mudokons that must be escorted to a bird portal. There are basic commands to tell them to follow or stay in place. Sometimes you need to control individuals to stand on a pressure plate. While it seems very simple to do, often I found myself so frustrated that I didn't even care if one of the following Mudokons died and there are many ways to kill them unintentionally. If a door closes and a Mudokon is in its way, it dies. If you are jumping around tripmines, the mudokons aren't smart enough to jump over it as well and dies. There are times where you think you were smart in hiding a group of Mudokons while you clear out enemies in your way but sometimes the enemies can appear near where you put them and kill them without you knowing. However, this seems all very intentional by the creators of the game. Over time you come to understand how to guide the Mudokons by hiding in lockers and clouds of smoke without getting them killed. It is very satisfying when you see all the Mudokons jump into the bird portal to freedom and all your hard work pays off. There are times where you spend hours redoing a specific part of a level because you want to save as many Mudokons as you can even though it is technically optional.
The Shortcomings
Unfortunately, this is where everything I enjoyed about this game ends. While all of the frustrations in guiding the Mudokons were intentional by the creators, my actual problems with the game appear. The first major problem I had is the ledge grabbing mechanic. In the beginning of the game, you don't have much items that can be used to defend yourself so sometimes stealth is your only way and dropping off ledges and grabbing onto them is crucial. The problem is that dropping onto a ledge and grabbing onto one is very hit or miss. I could be at the edge of a platform and try to drop down on the ledge but it wouldn't work. This can be a real problem because the game emphasizes stressful moments where you need to move fast and if you get caught by a slig, they can kill you in a second.While checkpoints can be very helpful when needing to redo a part of a level multiple times, it can be very tiring to recollect items in lockers or trash cans every single time you die which can be a lot. The reason it is set up this way is so you always have enough items to progress but it can still be a pain. There was a time where I needed to loot 8 lockers, buy multiple items from a shop, and craft items every single time I died. Another grievance I had with checkpoints is I had all my Mudokons die right as I reached a checkpoint which meant I couldn't go back without restarting the entire level but that was one time.
Interactable can also be very hit or miss. There is a level where you need to backtrack in order to get enough Moolah (the currency) which can be found in lockers and trashcans. The problem I faced in this scenario is that you had no items to defend yourself and you needed to look through as many lockers as possible before the Slig turns around. This would be fine if interactable didn't not doing anything half the time when you press the button. On top of that, Abe sometimes doesn't open the locker the game is even highlighting. In calm scenarios where you are just looting, this is manageable, but in stressful ones, it just adds to the frustration.
There are some other annoyances. Movement can sometimes feel very clunky and cause you to get killed when Abe doesn't do what you want him to do. There are sections in levels that require you to control a Slig but it may seem like you can't because there are machines that shock you if you try except for a small opening in a corner that isn't the most obvious. There were some game breaking bugs where you would get stuck and you would have to restart the game but I ran into it only a couple of times.
I really enjoyed the gameplay of Soulstorm and found myself wanting to replay levels in order to save more Mudokons. There are multiple endings in the game depending on how many you free and I got a bad ending on my first try but I do plan on going back and unlocking the other endings which says a lot for the replayability. However, there are a lot of small issues that pile up to make the game more frustrating than the developers may have intended it to be. Regardless, I found myself pleasantly surprised of how immersed I was and did not feel like being a newcomer to the franchise held me back at enjoying the game.
Verdict
What I Liked ...
- Beautiful settings and environments
- Not repetitive with various gameplay mechanics
- Lots of replay value
What I Didn't Like ...
- Story is just ok
- Controls can feel unsatisfying
- Bugs can break the game
7
Gameplay
There is gameplay always feels like it is progressing with constant new items and skills. Each level feels different and never feels repetitive. The controls does feel like it holds the platforming back from what could have been amazing.
7
Presentation
The plot can be a bit simple but does its job to drive the story. The cutscenes while pre-rendered are beautifully made and the in-game graphics is very detailed with vast environments but nothing ground breaking.
8
Lasting Appeal
While the first playthrough will last around 15 hours, there is a lot of replay ability to go back to each level and save more Mudokons.
7.5
out of 10
